HomeNewsMelbourne Business School launches first online program on digital disruption

Melbourne Business School launches first online program on digital disruption

A new six-week online course designed for managers and professionals will teach participants how to make sense of disruptive digital change and encourage a culture that embraces it.

Leading in the Digital Age will feature Melbourne Business School's top experts in leadership and innovation, as well as industry guests such as digital transformation consultant Alice Sidhu.

Eddie Tritton, Executive Director of Executive Education, said the subject matter was a perfect fit for launching the School's first online program.

"We wanted to create a program that gave people an immersive digital experience, as well as being flexible enough to fit into any schedule," he said. "We've made the learning content accessible from any device, to make it easy to get to and engage with."

The program will include modules on Digital Leadership, Design Thinking and Managing Change, as well as an optional face-to-face Network Lab to bring participants together in person.

"I'm excited about the Network Lab, where participants can hear from companies that have been successful in digital transformations and also continue supporting each other after completing the program," Mr Tritton said.

Ms Sidhu – a founder, government advisor and former Digital Business Transformation Partner at IBM – said Leading in the Digital Age would teach participants how to think like a customer as well as understand and create digital strategies.

"The pressure to respond and adapt to meet digital disruption is significant, and businesses need leaders who know how to navigate uncertain environments, cultivate experimentation and demonstrate customer empathy – which the course will make easy to understand," she said.

Ms Sidhu said some of the common digital transformation projects the program would address included maintaining business-as-usual while experimenting and adapting growth strategies, setting up channels to expedite digital project delivery, repositioning teams and organisations from commodity-focused to customer-focused, and responding to competitor impact.

"Digital change is important, because it's happening right now, and momentum from technology advancing means it will only continue. If organisations haven't started to actively engage and experiment, they will be left behind," she said.

"People are also making changes to the type of company they want to work for. To attract and retain the best talent, businesses need to embrace digital change and set up processes and systems that allow their staff to develop and grow."

Ms Sidhu said the program would be especially relevant to government professionals faced with modernising services to keep up with demand from users.

"There's an array of digital opportunities that governments must know how to seize and apply through their services to redefine their relationship with citizens," she said.

"Improved insight means an opportunity to deliver personalised services that will meet citizen needs and allow for more effective resource allocation."